Belber spearheading Devils’ season-ticket initiative

Times Union Center general manager Bob Belber has sent letters to corporate friends in the community, urging them to buy Albany Devils season tickets to elevate the American Hockey League team’s base.

“I know this market will support and AHL hockey team,” Belber said. “They’ve done it in the past, and they will in the future, but we’ve got to ask for help. That’s what I’m doing.

“I’m asking the business leaders of this community to step up and buy a few season tickets so they that they can help us get the base for this team up. We need to show the support for this team like we did for the teams in the mid-’90s. If we do that, we can secure and protect the AHL to stay in Albany on a longterm basis.”

41 Responses

It is good to see arena management (Bob Belber) working with their main tenant on building a stronger fan base. Corporate support is critical to the success of any sports franchise. The original Firebirds had a tremendous fan following but lacked the corporate support needed to keep the team in town. A little over two thousand dollars for 4 season tickets (plus 4 additional tickets to be used as desired) is chump change for any successful business (can it be used as a business expense as well?). If you want to have entertainment options in your local area, support is needed. Just ask the Aqua-Duck fans. The Devils made good progress last season with some very successful promotions and a handful of “old-school” sized crowds. I am sure that they are hard at work behind the scenes attempting to keep marching forward. This step by Bob is a nice assist to their cause, and one might argue a long overdue one.

@ Don and Pete, Belbers idea although well intentioned, is awful. First off, you don’t give away prime seats for free at the lower level.
If you want to sell four season tickets(lower level) and give four free with them, give the free ones upper level. Now if those freebies like the game, then they can buy lower level tickets in the future.
What the City of Albany needs to do is give those supporting the team buying season tickets is throw in a parking spot.(FREE)
The freebies will of course pay for parking.Albany would lose nothing.
BTW-Glens Falls can not compete with Albany.
One last note, lets forget about the dumb promotions and give me some decent hockey. Building full.

Fred, I don’t disagree with your point about free tickets, but I’m also not a fan of opening the upper level when the lower bowl is only half-full. We don’t need the arena to feel any emptier than it already is. Granted, the impact would be lessened if you did it one section at a time, but I’m skeptical about raising those curtains when you don’t really have to.

I’m with you about free parking for season ticket holders, though. If you’re putting hundreds of dollars into the team, the least they can do in return is give you a break on parking. I understand that the team has no control over that, but it would be a decent gesture if they, the arena, and the city were to band together and work with the owners of the various garages and lots on getting this done.

Did you know you can park for free at all State Office Buliding parking lots and garages??( Like the State Encon Building) They were built with taxpayers money so might be a couple blocks from the arena but so what?? We went and parked there and who took advantage of this just one car OURS.

@7 Don’t worry about the curtain. I’m guessing lower level seating holds 6-6500, half that filled with season tickets 3250, we’re golden. Add some paying game day walk ins and the upper deck casual fans we’re over 7000. Start winning some games…who knows.
I really don’t care one way or another about who’s in the upper deck, as long as I see some good hockey. And that doesn’t mean winning playing pond hockey, I can go across the river for that. I’ll be watching the ice.

#3,4… I’m just basing “main tenant” as who brings in the most $…. So what if the devils play 38 games…. give them a generous average 2,000 ppl a game…. Siena plays 14 with an average of 5,500 (10,000+ for UAlbany gm). Just because Devils are there more, doesnt mean they are the main tenant…. Its all about the mighty $$$ and obviously the Devils can’t produce that like Siena does.

Hmmm…Brad as I take a page from Mr. Bill O’ Reilly where in my previous comment in that the NHL has an bearing effect on an AHL team in the TUC? I referenced the CBA (basketball league to clarify once again)and the prior pro tenants which played home games when the facility was just christened. Geez I guess those whopping attendance figures for the Siena games (not having the upper level opened at that) must have had a delusional effect on your feelings about the consistent tenure of pro hockey at the arena. I agree with you Sir….enough said.

mr. Fast Fred you’re right with Mr. Coyne but you’re also dead wrong too….cause he did wrong with his actions and literally ruined his legacy on his accomplishments on the brand new civic center in downtown. Look I’m not a native guy from Albany area but since the arena opened up with the Firebirds,hockey (season tix for both) concerts and the many people that I have met I can assure you that the “Cap” is my home away from home and ditto for the “Knick”.

Wrong, FF101!!! Coyne had nothing to do with the Rats!!! It was the Lawrence family that brought the Rats to what was known as the Knick Arena!!! Coyne was in prison for tax corruption during that time!!! Coyne could have brought the Patroons back to the TU Center, but no!!! He put them back at the renovated Armory that drew poor attendance and poor media coverage!!! That’s all I have to say!!!

Mark, Fred’s point is that if it hadn’t been for Jim Coyne, there wouldn’t have been an arena. No arena, no hockey. It’s probable an arena would have been built eventually — how long would Albany have been willing to go on with the Armory as its main indoor sports venue? — but history would have turned out differently.

@15 I also should have said if it wasn’t for Jim Coyne the Rats hockey team wouldn’t have played in Albany. Sure Lawrence brought them in, but they would have skated in the streets.
Coyne got the arena built. Got it all started.
BTW didn’t Lawrence go to federal prison…looks like more than one dirty rat.

Not to “one-up-ya” Fast Freddie but for Mr. Coyne’s efforts in manufacturing a downtown entertainment facility “credit” must be handed to David Welker…remember him? Now that’s a “used car dealer” owner who brought to Albany the Choppers from Ft. Wayne and thought he could bring in the numbers to the Knick for his IHL club. Needless to say with the club as the farthest eastern club in a mid west-western league he paid half the teams to fly in to the “Big A” to play and before you know it the employees at the arena out numbered the patrons and filtered down to the team in which they hardly had enough equipment to assemble for either practice or game day. A black eye for hockey in the “Cap”.

FF101, I know Coyne built the arena, but the Rats were playing at the RPI Fieldhouse when they were known as the CD Islanders at the same time the arena was opened!!! The arena was originally built for the Albany Admirals of the Global Hockey League (GHL) (which never happened) and then Coyne brought in the Albany Choppers which failed and folded, too!!! The Rats moved in a couple of years later!!!

@18 & 19, Forget WHO came into the ARENA, my point was, that it was built at all. You guys are reading way too much into my comment. Go back and read it again. lol
BTW- I sure learned something from you two. Here all this time I thought that the Albany Arena (Knickerbocker) was built for the Super Sonic Dangler Hockey team. Thanks for the info!

Fast Fred there was an ol’ saying…”if and buts…were candy and nuts”…I’m soooo surrey the participants of your statement on #13 rubbed indifferently. I myself went in depth of the hockey history of teams that made home in the arena since the inception. Actually the first ever hockey game at the Knick was an exhibition game between the Rangers-Capitals in September of 90′. The main goal for this erected civic center was to bring in hockey as the lead sport and even the specs of the design accomodated an international size playing surface (remember Team USA had based their training base in the city and did play some exhibition games as a prelude to the olympics in 92′). Good day!

Mark, please remember your history. Yes, the CD Isles started the same season as the Choppers, but the AHL placed the Islanders at RPI as a response to the IHL invasion. If the Komets had not moved east, CDI may have never come into existence, and who knows where we’d be today? Maybe the Red Wings would have moved south, maybe the Knick would have landed its own AHL or IHL franchise anyway, maybe they would have convinced RPI or Union to move in full-time. The possibilities are numerous.

@22 You are correct, but let me add, the reason for all this was Glens Falls didn’t want Albany to have an AHL team cause it was less then 50 miles. I guess the rest was politics at its best. Albany did get their AHL team.

FF101 and Tim, once again you misunderstood me!!! The arena had planned to bring in a Global Hockey League team called the Albany Admirals which wouldn’t have to interfere with either the NHL or the AHL, but that idea was scrapped!!! Yes I know they couldn’t get an AHL team at the arena because it was less than 50 miles, so they had to bring in an IHL team to the Knick so it wouldn’t interfere with the AHL!!! The CD Islanders had intended to move to the arena, but it wasn’t until 1993 when the Lawrence family bought the Utica Devils and then they became the Albany River Rats!!!

The Adriondack blog has a section titled History of Hockey in Glens Falls or something like that….. would be a great idea here to avoid the mistakes that seem to always pop up in the peoples comments. And don’t cite wikipedia, there are mistakes in that. It’s not a simple history, and is pretty interesting. I’d suggest starting with the Schenectady team on Troy SlapShots in the mid 80s and especially through the end of the Lawrence years it can get confusing.

@ b.jones. I have a few questions for you if you don’t mind.
Back in 04 you were given free tickets for friends. Were you given a few or for the whole season!?(You were a season ticket holder). Next were those tickets you gave out for the lower level?
Did you bring your friends to the game? (I know they never bought any tickets).
The previous questions were all serious ones. The next one somewhat, if you get free season tickets for the season 2012-2013 with the ones you paid for…could I be your friend….I’ll pay for parking!

Seat was for 04-05 only. Never got that again. They said it was for anyone who renewed their accopunt. So instead of seats 1-2 for 40 games we had 1-2-3 in that row or whatever number they are. The other STHs I knew received that benefit also. Probably to favor Robb in a possible sale, made the STH base look bigger. I don’t remember the top open at all that year. We had a few friends who went a few times (the tix could be traded in), but didn’t ever feel the need to pay for tickets after that.

There are too many free lots and street parking spots to take your money man!